It's Groundhog Day

Bible verse references: Romans 8:15-17, Leviticus 20:24, Exodus 5:22, Exodus 6:1, Exodus 12:31-32, Exodus 15:22-26, Exodus 16:3

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Do you remember that movie with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell back in 1993 called Groundhog Day? Where he goes to Punxsutawney, PA to cover the story of the groundhog Phil seeing his shadow to determine how long winter would last. He wakes up and every day is exactly the same over and over again.

For some of us our lives seem related to this movie. You get up, go to work and after work it’s home to watch your favorite T.V. shows and off to bed. And day-by-day it’s the same routine over and over again. Nothing ever changes, nothing is exciting, there is nothing new and nothing seems to motivate you any more. Life seems to be going around the same mountain day-by-day and you end up in the same place, nowhere!

You’ve given your life to Christ but it’s the same as it used to be with the exception of a few things that you now no longer do since you have found your new connection with God. Is this how it’s supposed to be? Absolutely not!

Romans 8:15 - 17 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

When you accepted Jesus as you’re Lord and Savior your life, you start as a newborn baby (Born again in spirit), and you are supposed to grow in you walk with the Lord. You are co-heirs to His estate since you are now a family member. As a new Christian you start out just as a newborn baby does on what the Bible refers to as milk, then as we grow in Christ we end up on Biblical meat. Milk and meat are used as a reference to God’s Word. The reference simply tells us that we start out with a little that we can absorb, just like a newborn baby, and as we grown and mature we end up with solid food.

So why are you not growing? Why are you in the same old rut? Why are the bills still piling up? Why is the rent overdue? Why is the bank account overdrawn?

Jesus never said, follow me and your life will be a bed of roses.

When Jesus was here on earth His life was far from being smooth sailing. In fact most of the people in the Bible lives were faced with very difficult situations that were humanly impossible to overcome. Take Mary for example. When the angel appeared to her and told her that she was going to become pregnant imagine how she felt when the town found out. Her fiancé wanted to dump her; the people in the town were all talking about her. Then the angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary as his wife. The emperor of Rome was taking a census and ordered everyone back to his or her hometowns. Imagine Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem being 9 months pregnant. Not a pleasant trip by no means. Then they didn’t have a place to stay because all the rooms were full so they ended up in a stable. Imagine the stinky animal smelling stable where Jesus was born. Jesus didn’t have a wonderful rose filled life either; He was ridiculed, mocked, conspired against, beaten and eventually crucified on a cross. I would say that if we were to go through what Jesus went through we would consider it to be a very bad day.

So why is our life still the same? We accepted Christ as our savior, so isn’t it supposed to be different? Are we doing something wrong? What is causing us to go round-and-round the same old mountain?

It’s actually very simple, you’re not growing! To grow you have to learn. To learn you have to spend time with God. To spend time with God you have to read your Bible. The Bible is God’s user manual for your life and it tells you exactly who God is, what He is like and what He has for your life. When a baby is born they grow up, go to school and learn. They get educated. In the same way when you spend time with God, He teaches you. Now if you’re asleep in the back of the class, well you get the picture.

Let’s look at how God teaches us.

The Israelites were captive in Egypt for 215 years. 215 years under the rule of Egypt as slaves before God removed them from Pharaohs grip. Finally they were free, no longer slaves. Imagine for a moment six hundred thousand men on foot, besides woman and children walking out of Egypt heading for the land flowing with milk and honey that God has promised them. That is a lot of people! Now one man, named Moses was leading the group heading for what is called the Desert of Shur, which is known as the Desert of Sin. Interesting name for a desert and I will explain this a little later.

When they left Egypt Pharaoh was really ticked off and decided to take his army, hunt them down and kill them all. Now God is going to reveal Himself to His people in a very powerful way, by parting the Red Sea so they could cross over to the other side and then He drowned Pharaohs army in it right in front of their eyes. Now I personally think that if you were to have seen this with your own eyes you would have become a believer right then and their on the spot. I mean it’s not everyday that you see the parting of a sea. That had to be absolute positive proof that God is powerful, alive and very real!

But wait! What is about to happen next will blow your mind. Picture the scene, God has just drowned the Egyptian army right before their eyes and they were all shouting and singing songs of praises to the Lord. You would think, after witnessing this they would all be doing everything exactly as God wanted. I mean would you want to cross a God that has the power to part a sea and drown an army in it. But did they? No!

God works His way in all situations. He gives a promise, then there will be a problem and then He will provide the provision.

Promise - Leviticus 20:24

“You will possess their land; a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Promise

God would free His people from captivity and slavery, and Pharaoh would let God’s people go.

Problem

Moses had gone to Pharaoh numerous times and plagues were brought.

Exodus 5:22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Exodus 6:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of My mighty hand he will let them go; because of My mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

Provision

After bringing all the plagues to Egypt the final straw was when God struck down all the firstborn children in Egypt starting with Pharaohs son and including all the Egyptians firstborns.

Exodus 12:31-32 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and your Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

Interesting to note that Pharaoh asked to be blessed since he now realized who God was. But did he repent? No his hurt turned to anger, and his anger turned to revenge by going out and hunting down the Israelites to kill them, and his revenge turned into his destruction, when his army was drowned in the Red Sea.

God had lived up to His promise of delivering His people out of the hands of Pharaoh and setting them free. Now they were on their way to God’s next promise of the land filled with milk and honey.

So how does this relate to us? Well we are saved through Christ and born again. God’s promise to us is that now we will no longer perish but have eternal life with Him in Heaven. That’s God’s Promise!

Problem - When Pharaoh let the Israelites go they were now heading towards God’s promised land. However in order to get there they had to pass through the Desert of Sin. This was the problem. This desert was barren and desolate. Nothing grew there that would sustain life. You would think the people after seeing God destroy Pharaohs army they would be perfect believers and do everything God asked them to do. But they were now going to be tested to shown them that God is the provision!

So how did the Israelites do? They failed miserably! In fact it didn’t take long for them to start complaining. Imagine six hundred thousand people plus complaining about no water. Exodus 15:22-26 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Sin. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (Marah means biter)

So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” (Problem) Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and it became sweet. (Provision) There the Lord made a decree and law for them, and there He tested them. He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

God reveals a wonderful side of Himself here by saying “I am the Lord, who heals you.”

So now that they received the water would they stop complaining and allow God to be their provision? Again they failed! It didn’t take long for them to complain about no food to Moses. Exodus 16:3 “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you brought us into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

The Lord then provided Manna and Quail. Again we see the Lord becoming the provision. So did they stop complaining? No!

This is why it took them 40 years of wandering in the desert, to make an 11-day trip, before they reached the promise land. The needed to totally become dependent on God! God wants to take care of you and He is willing to make a very strong point of it!

God’s promise of eternal life through the blood of Christ is wonderful and when we accept it we all know without a doubt that we are on our way, that’s His promise. But we still have to live in this world until we get there, that’s the problem. The everyday pressures of the world will continue to try and beat you into the ground. Your situations don’t just instantly disappear. You’re still financially strapped, still trying to make ends meet, still in painful situations, still waiting for your healing. If you try to take on the problem yourself you will continue to wake up to Groundhog Day. God wants you to realize that He is the provision!

God is the provision for any and all of your problems.

God Bless you

Author: Ed Krusiewig

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